Semolina Blueberry Cookies

Somehow time escaped me and I went almost all the way through May only having posted once! Sorry guys, I'll be better from now on. I've been working on an epic post about mushroom ravioli but for now I'll tide us over with a cookie recipe. This recipe was adapted from one I found in Sunset (May 2009) but does not seem to exist online.

About 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1 1/2 c flour
3/4 c semolina
1/2 tsp salt
1 c unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 large egg
About 2 tbs cornmeal

Combine flour, semolina, and salt. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until smooth. Add egg and mix until combined. Add salt and flours and mix slowly until everything is incorporated. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and shape into a disk, then wrap it in plastic and chill it for at least two hours (and up to two days).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap the dough and roll it out on a pastry mat or a floured work surface; the dough should be about 1/3 of an inch thick. Sprinkle two baking sheets with cornmeal. Cut the dough with a two-inch cookie cutter and space the cookies slightly apart on the baking sheets. Reroll the scraps as needed (the dough may also need to be chilled again if it's getting sticky).

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they're a light golden brown. If you put both cookie sheets in at once, you'll have to swap their positions halfway through cooking. I prefer to do them one sheet at a time; you'll get more even cooking without fussing around with hot cookie sheets. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

You might notice that semolina pops up with some regularity as an ingredient in my kitchen; I got started with it when I bought a 3-pound bag of semolina flour at the Armenian market for $1.50 a couple of years ago. Since then I go and replenish every few months. The spices at that market are super cheap too; I love it. I don't know what semolina prices are like at grocery stores. If you can even find it, it's probably expensive, so I'd recommend looking for it at small ethnic markets or in bulk bins.

Spring Vegetable Risotto

I know this kind of looks like the mac and cheese I just posted, but trust me, they're not the same! I was going to wait to post this, but I decided I needed to hustle because these veggies are going out of season. This is a good thing to make on a day when you have some spare time for lengthy kitchen tasks. While I was making this I kept thinking of renaming it "extremely labor-intensive risotto" or "huge pain in the behind risotto" but in the end the hubs and little one and I really enjoyed it, and it definitely gave the beautiful spring veggies a chance to shine.

1 leek
1 artichoke
1 lb. fava beans
1 bunch asparagus
1 1/2 c arborio rice
4 c veggie or chicken stock
1 tb butter
1/4 c dry white wine
salt and pepper, olive oil

Start with the artichoke. Don't bother trimming the leaf tips or trying to make it look pretty-- just steam it until the leaves pull easily from it and the heart can be easily pierced with a knife. In my experience this always takes a loooong time; 45 minutes to an hour depending on the size of the artichoke. When it's done let it cool for a while before you start to pull it apart. Shell the fava beans, then boil them for 2 minutes. Immerse them in cold water until they're cool enough to handle, then pop the beans out of their skins. Be careful or you'll have beans flying all over your kitchen. Set aside your shelled favas.

When your artichoke has cooled, start pulling off the leaves and scrape the "meat" from the bottom of each leaf. I think a grapefruit spoon would work well for this, but since I don't have one I kind of shaved it off with a paring knife. This will take a while so put on some music. When you get there, scoop out the choke and thinly slice the heart.

Clean your asparagus and break off the woody ends. Break the spears into 1-inch pieces. Clean your leek by cutting off the root end and the green top, then cutting it in half lengthwise and immersing it in water. Leeks are grown in sandy soil and if you don't clean them well you could end up chewing on grit, which will ruin any meal. When the leek is clean, thinly slice it. Melt some butter in a pan and cook the leeks, adding the asparagus when the leeks begin to soften. Cook until the asparagus is bright green, then remove from heat and set aside.

Now start your risotto. Heat the stock for four or five minutes in the microwave-- as I've said before, I like to do this right in the measuring cup, and this is especially handy with risotto because you want to add the liquid about half a cup at a time.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pan. I use my Dutch oven for this and it works really well. Cook the rice in the butter until it's coated (only for a minute or two). The ends will be translucent. Pour in the wine and stir. Cook until the liquid is gone. Add half a cup of broth, stir, and cook until it's gone. Repeat until you have about half a cup of broth left. Before you add the last of your broth, taste the rice to see if it's cooked. If it is, stop adding broth. If it's still al dente, add the rest. If you've used all your broth and your rice still isn't cooked, heat up some water in your measuring cup and add it half a cup at a time until your rice is cooked.

When the rice is done, stir in the artichoke, favas, asparagus, and leeks. Grate some cheese over it, salt and pepper it, and you're ready to eat!

Variation: I made this with salmon. I really undercooked a salmon steak, then broke it into pieces and stirred it in. The heat from the rice will finish cooking the fish so you'll end up with nice big pieces of perfectly cooked salmon instead of little tiny pieces of dry salmon.

A tip about risotto: It's important to stir risotto as it's cooking so the rice cooks evenly. I used to think this meant to stir constantly as you were cooking, but that will just give you a gummy risotto. The goal is to have nicely cooked grains of rice with a creamy texture, not a mushy mess. Adding the liquid in small increments, stirring to incorporate it, and then letting it sit for a minute or two is the best technique I've found so far.